Tuesday, January 31, 2017

The first month of 2017 has reached its last day, and the number of foreigners whose rights have been violated by not being allowed into the United States continues to be zero. This is because entry into a country of which one is not a citizen is not a right, but a privilege. And in other news:

Monday, January 30, 2017

It's pretty obvious that there are a lot of vocal people who don't like President Trump's temporary ban on admitting people from seven specific Muslim-majority countries. They seem to like mis-characterizing the ban as a ban on all Muslims, as evidenced by the #MuslimBan hashtag on Twitter. But as it turns out, the measure has gotten quite a bit of support.

Last night, news broke of a shooting at a mosque in Québec City, Canada. Six people were killed and eight others injured when two gunmen opened fire at the Grande Mosquée de Québec, while worshipers were conducting Sunday night prayers. Shortly afterwards, the two suspected shooters were arrested, and have been identified as Alexandre Bissonnet and Mohamed Khadir, both students at Université Laval. They reportedly shouted "Allahu akbar" during the shooting.

UPDATE: Bissonnet is now called the sole suspect. Khadir apparently has been called a "witness".

Sunday, January 29, 2017

To hear some people, or read some Tweets, or read some protester signs, you'd think that President Trump has announced plans to round up the world's billion or so Muslims and either enslave them or exterminate them in concentration camps. Trump is the new Hitler, after all. (Wait a minute, wasn't Bush the new Hitler? Oh, never mind.) OK, maybe I exaggerate, but as pointed out by David French in National Review, so are some of Trump's critics. From NR:

To read the online commentary, one would think that President Trump just fundamentally corrupted the American character. You would think that the executive order on refugees he signed yesterday betrayed America’s Founding ideals. You might even think he banned people from an entire faith from American shores.

French has one criticism for how the president's order has been implemented, with which I agree. Some Green Card holders, in other words, immigrants who came here the right way, have reportedly been detained. This would seem unnecessary, since these people presumably have already been vetted up to their eyeballs. But in any event, to learn what's really going on, read French's article.

Saturday, January 28, 2017

President Trump's temporary ban on entry to the United States for people from certain Muslim-majority countries has certainly proven controversial, but as it turns out, the particular choice of those countries didn't start with himself. As explained in Mic:

How, though, did the Trump administration choose these seven Muslim-majority countries? The truth is it didn't: The countries were chosen during Barack Obama's presidency.

According to the draft copy of Trump's executive order, the countries whose citizens are barred entirely from entering the United States is based on a bill that Obama signed into law in December 2015.

Sounds rather interesting. President Trump's executive order is intended to carry out a law signed by President Obama. From what I can tell, Mic seems to be rather Islamophilic, and a few of its pics contain some off-color language (from signs shown therein), but whether you agree with Trump's policy or not, read the full story.

Back when I was a Littlefoot, one of my favorite TV cartoons was based on the Archie comics series. There were several versions of the show, including The Archie Show and The Archie Comedy Hour. Each show included the adventures of the title character Archie Andrews and his friends Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones, all of whom were teenagers living a town named Riverdale. Betty and Veronica were rivals for Archie's affections, but still managed to be each other's best friend. These five characters formed a band called The Archies, who performed a song during each episode, with Jughead's dog Hot Dog acting as a conductor. (In reality, The Archies were singer Ron Dante and whoever backed him up in the studio. They had a huge hit with Sugar Sugar.) Occasionally, we got to watch other teenage characters such as Ethel and Moose, and adult characters such as Mr. Weatherby (the principal of Riverdale High) and Ms. Grundy (a teacher). Of the parents of the above-mentioned teenagers, the only one I can recall seeing was Veronica's father.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Today, I've run across two essays which I've found very interesting. The first was published in National Review and written by Frederica Mathews-Green, entitled "When Abortion Suddenly Stopped Making Sense". The author points out that when Roe v. Wade was decided, she was a college student in favor of legalizing abortion, and a contributor to a feminist publication named Off Our Backs. Her recollection of their view of the decision:

The first issue of Off Our Backs after the Roe decision included one of my movie reviews, and also an essay by another member of the collective criticizing the decision. It didn’t go far enough, she said, because it allowed states to restrict abortion in the third trimester. The Supreme Court should not meddle in what should be decided between the woman and her doctor. She should be able to choose abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. [italics as in original]

The other essay is a post on Ace Of Spades HQ entitled "How Losing My Political Values Helped Me Gain My Freedom [Warden]", by Open Blogger. Whether Warden and Open Blogger are the same person, or Open Blogger is posting the essay on behalf of Warden, I don't know. Here are the first two paragraphs:

There's a frustrating game that the left plays with conservatives. It's an Alinksy tactic called, "Make them live up to their values." Now, living up to one's values isn't a bad thing, but setting high standards ultimately means that you'll sometimes fall short.

The left loves to exploit these shortcomings--every Christian who falls short of perfection is a hypocrite; the social values candidate you voted for just got arrested for drunk driving. Haha, everything you believe and advocate is now discredited.

Warden/Open blogger discusses how he intends to use the left's tactic against them, particularly when they criticize President Trump. Read the second full story.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Actor/dancer/producer/author Mary Tyler Moore has died at the age of 80, from cardiopulmonary arrest at a hospital in Connecticut. She had recently had heart and kidney problems. She had been dealing with type-1 diabetes since age 33.

Mary Tyler Moore was born in Brooklyn, New York to George Tyler Moore and the former Marjorie Hackett. When she was eight, her family moved to Los Angeles. Originally a dancer, her first television role was the elf "Happy Hotpoint" in Hotpoint appliance ads. In her first regular role, as a telephone receptionist on Richard Diamond, Private Detective, only her legs were seen on camera. After several guest appearances and movie roles, Moore was cast as Laura Petrie, the wife of the title character of The Dick Van Dyke Show. The show ran from 1961 to 1966. She starred in her own eponymous sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show from 1970 to 1977. For her TV roles, she won multiple Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe Awards. With her husband Grant Tinker, she founded MTM Enterprises, whose logo featured a meowing cat, spoofing the roaring MGM lion. Moore wrote two memoirs, and was an activist for animals rights and for research pertaining to type-1 diabetes.

Moore was married three times, first to Richard Meeker (1955-1961), then to Grant Tinker (1962-1981), and finally to Dr. Robert Levine (1983-her death), by whom she is survived. Her only child was Richard Meeker Jr., who died of an accidental gunshot in 1980.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

A convicted drug offender and former gang member, whose sentence was commuted by President Obama this past November, was murdered yesterday by two gunmen at a halfway house in Saginaw, Michigan. According to reports, one of the men shot their intended victim, Damarlon Thomas, while the other held the other residents at bay. No one else was shot.

Reversing actions done by his predecessor, President Trump signed two executive orders to advance the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. These actions quickly elicited protests from pipeline opponents, but were welcomed by the Canadian government. Terms under which the pipelines will be constructed or completely will still have to be negotiated.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Just one day into his term, President Trump has already been hung in effigy. Not by any of the participants in the liberal women's march yesterday, but by a man in Kentucky. Via WSPA from WNCT:

One Kentucky man is turning heads due to a display he created at his home in Crestview Hills.

Ken Blair built the display depicting a life-size Donald Trump doll hanging from a noose, with a controversial quote written below that Trump received backlash for during the campaign.

The video at WNCT has edited out a certain slang term which can refer either to the female privates or to a cat, but Blair's neighbors get to see the uncensored quote. Read the full story. I'd say that Trump now deserves a "welcome to the club" from his two immediatepredecessors.

Saturday, January 21, 2017

A while back, I posted the story on how grocery shoppers in Brooklyn were triggered when the song Sweet Home Alabama came over the store's PA system. This strange little story made me realize that there were other songs which evoke that particular southern state, so I've decided to present them in a music post. First up, of course, is the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic itself. There are quite a few YouTube videos of the song, but I chose one that uses scenes from the movie Forrest Gump, which includes the song in its soundtrack.

Friday, January 20, 2017

As some may have expected, rioters and vandals whom we charitably call "protesters" have made their presence known in DC. Well, I'm sure there were also genuine anti-Trump protesters who kept their actions within the bounds of civility, but unfortunately, they were overshadowed by the more unhinged faction. Some even threw rocks at police, who responded with tear gas and concussion grenades.

Today at noon, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath. President Trump used two bibles, one used at Abraham Lincoln's inauguration and more recently used by President Obama, the other a gift from Trump's mother. Moments earlier, Justice Clarence Thomas had sworn in Vice President Mike Pence.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Hang in there, fellow rightwing nutjobs, because today is the last full day of the Obama presidency. With the transition almost complete and the inauguration set for tomorrow, here are some other things going on out there:

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Just three days before leaving office, President Obama has commuted the sentence of convicted document leaker Chelsea Manning, despite objections from Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. The former Bradley Manning is now due to be released this coming May 17. Obama also pardoned former General James Cartwright and commuted the sentence of Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar Lopez Rivera.

Due to nobody's fault but my own, I've been disconnected from the Internet for a few days. To make a long story short, let's just say that computers and soup do not mix. Now that I'm back, I've been catching up, re-establishing my bookmarks, plugging in usernames and passwords into all the sites I visit, and surely but slowly getting things back to normal. Fortunately, the ability to transfer data from an old hard drive to a new computer does indeed exist. But due to the self-inflicted nature of my problems, the "Stupid People" label goes to yours truly.

Of course, the world did not take time out during my cyber-absence. So pretty soon, I'll be gathering up and relaying out all the stuff that I find fit to post, and adding my own $0.02 worth of opinion. But for now, it's good to be back.

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Now that Dr. Thomas Sowell is no longer writing columns, the "Random Musings" posts at this blog will carry forth the tradition he started with his "Random Thoughts" columns. Since this type of post is thus not my creation, anyone else out there who wants to put out anything similar won't need my OK, or have any obligation to acknowledge anything I've written. But I would suggest that any such writer or blogger would acknowledge Dr. Sowell, as I previously have. So with that, here we go:
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According to some people, this past election has been hacked by Russia, or maybe somebody in Russia. As a result, a new humorous meme has arisen, blaming various people's failures on Russia or the Russians. Apparently, this includes Mariah Carey's attempted lip-syncing on a recent New Year's Eve show.

MTV recently put out a video of proposed New Year's resolutions for white men, one of which was not regarding "Black Lives Matter" as the opposite of "All Lives Matter". If that's true, it should be a two-way street. In other words, "All Lives Matter" should not be viewed as the opposite of "Black Lives Matter", nor as an insult toward blacks. I would also suggest that if the "Black Lives Matter" movement wants more respect, they should refrain from things such as blocking roads and calling for the deaths of cops.

No, this is not about Trump's rival's daughter, but a former Army intelligence analyst once known as Bradley Manning. She (in the Caitlyn Jenner sense of the pronoun) adopted the name after being imprisoned for leaking over 700,000 documents to Wikileaks, and is reportedly on President Obama's "short list" for commutations before he leaves office. Manning is currently serving a 35-year sentence.

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

While Donald Trump will not be inaugurated until January 20, Congress started their session (if you'll forgive the pun) on January 3. This includes starting the confirmation hearings on some of Trump's nominees, such as current Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) for Attorney General. In what has to be a historically rare occurrence, his fellow Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) will testify against him, even though at one time, he regarded Sessions more favorably. Some other black Americans have come out in favor of Sessions. Meanwhile, in a move which merits the "Stupid People" label, an MTV writer accused Sessions of stealing a little Asian girl from Toys "R" Us. The girl is actually his granddaughter.

At the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, a gunman fatally shot one person and injured nine others, before being taken into custody. The incident reportedly occurred near the baggage claim area of the airport's terminal 2. Authorities have closed down the terminal and evacuated people to a nearby tarmac.

UPDATE 2: Some information has come out about the shooter, now identified as Esteban Santiago, originally from Puerto Rico, but most recently a resident of Alaska. The Blaze reports that during this past November, Santiago walked into an FBI office and claimed that he was being "forced to fight for ISIS". According to True Pundit, Santiago texted family and friends before opening fire, and has used several aliases. ZeroHedge reports that GotNews did some research on Santiago, which appears to indicate that Santiago watched an "e-jihad" video in 2007.

UPDATE 3: According to CBS Miami, Santiago got into an argument during his flight. He was on a Delta light, not an Air Canada flight as some sources had previously reported. He was born in New Jersey to Puerto Rican parents, not in Puerto Rico itself.

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

This post will deal with some things relating to religion. I don't believe:

That Noah's Ark, or some remnant thereof, currently sits on Mount Ararat.

To preface this topic, I'm setting aside the question of whether a global flood really did occur, and was survived by a man named Noah and his family aboard a large wooden vessel called an Ark. I'm also setting aside the question of whether that vessel actually landed on Mount Ararat (singular) or somewhere in the mountains (plural) of Ararat, as actually stated in the biblical Book of Genesis, chapter 8, verse 4. Instead, I will assume that at some point in the ancient past, there really was an exceptionally catastrophic flood, a man remembered by the name Noah, and a vessel which came to rest somewhere on the singular mountain known as Mount Ararat. Even if all that is true, I believe that the chance of the Ark being there today is just about zero.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Contrary to earlier indications, the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump will be attended by most of his living predecessors. Former Presidents Clinton and Bush the Younger will be in attendance, along with President Obama, who will hand over the presidency, and former President Carter. Former First Lady Hillary Clinton will also attend. Before today, reports had indicated that only Carter would accept Trump's invitation. Former President Bush the Elder will not be present, due to health reasons.

Monday, January 2, 2017

Here's something that was played, in its audio form, by Vito Esposito on his BlogTalkRadio show. (He's the same dude who once requested my "bear on a pipeline" picture.) When I asked if there was a YouTube video, his co-host Al provided the link, which is now available here.

A fellow listener known as DrMeola provided this link, where a larger version of the video may be watched. The producer of the video is the Media Research Center.

UPDATE: The originally embedded video has been removed from YouTube due to claims of copyright infringement. Fortunately, the video (or perhaps a version that doesn't infringe on anyone's copyright) is still available at the link provided by the above-mentioned DrMeola. I have posted the video from that particular link, and have accordingly changed the first link at the top.

About Me

I've been a contributor to the rightwing blog AndRightlySo, but now I've also got my own. My interests include travel, hiking, music (I play several instruments.), and the NY Yankees. Born in NY state, raised in NY and Virginia (including a degree from Virginia Tech), before moving to Maryland.